1 . OpenAI on Thursday announced its most direct threat yet to its strong Big Tech rivals: a search engine that uses artificial intelligence built in from the beginning.
The company is testing SearchGPT, which will combine its AI technology with real-time information from the web to allow people to search for information in the same way they talk to ChatGPT. The search engine is currently in an early test for a limited number of users. With the new feature, OpenAI will be directly competing with Google, which has for years dominated the online search market. SearchGPT could also pose a threat to Microsoft.
With SearchGPT, users will be able to ask questions in natural language, and they’ll receive answers that they can then follow up on with additional questions. But unlike ChatGPT, which is often reliant on older data to generate its answers, SearchGPT will provide up-to-date information, with online links to what the company says are “clear and relevant sources.” The tool will also show a sidebar with additional links to relevant information.
The OpenAI search engine could promote generative AI after Google has experimented with early efforts to incorporate chatbots and AI-generated answers into the search experience. But Google quickly pulled back on use of the feature after it provided false, and in some cases totally nonsensical information, in response to some users’ queries.
The launch of Google’s tool also raised concerns among some news publishers and similar concerns could arise with OpenAI’s search engine. However, OpenAI said Thursday that it partnered with publishers to build the tool and give them options to “manage how they appear” in SearchGPT’s results.
1. What can be learned about SearchGPT from paragraph 2?| A．It is not well-developed and still under test. | B．It challenges Google, but beats Microsoft. |
| C．Lots of users have tried it online up to now. | D．It has controlled the online search market for years. |
| A．Provision of infinite questions. | B．Easy access based on previous data. |
| C．Natural communication via ChatGPT. | D．Latest information with additional links |
| A．Dismissive. | B．Positive. | C．Suspicious. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．OpenAI Will Combine Search Engine and ChatGPT |
| B．SearchGPT Becomes Popular among Users Currently |
| C．OpenAI Is Taking on Google with a New Artificial Intelligence Search Engine |
| D．Google’s Launch of AI Search Engine Was a Failure Due to False Information |
2 . In the depths of the ocean, a society grows energetically that has long remained a myth to the human world: the mermaids (美人鱼). Recently, a groundbreaking simulated (模拟的) project — the “Mermaid Society Project” — has been started by a group of high school students in a social science class. This project aims to address real-world environmental concerns from an imaginative viewpoint and this unique social initiative has caught the attention of both students and society.
The project began as school work, where students were tasked with exploring and suggesting solutions to environmental issues. However, the team, led by the far-sighted student, Amelia, took a fearless leap by suggesting communicating with the mythical mermaid civilization to learn about their sustainable practices and apply them to human society.
Amelia and her team set out on a journey to the underwater city of Aquaria, where they were welcomed by the mermaid queen, Marina. The mermaids, known for their harmony with nature, shared their knowledge of marine life preservation, waste management, and energy conservation. The students were surprised by the mermaids’ use of giant algae (海藻) as a renewable resource for food, shelter, and energy.
The project has since expanded beyond the school, with the support of environmental organizations and the local community. The students have organized workshops and seminars to educate people about the mermaids’ sustainable practices. They have also organized an activity to reduce plastic waste, inspired by the mermaids’ zero-waste lifestyle.
The “Mermaid Society Project” has become a symbol of hope for environmental conservation. It has sparked a conversation about the importance of learning from other species and cultures to create a more sustainable future. The project has also opened doors for further research into the mermaid civilization, promoting a new era of interspecies cooperation.
1. What was the original purpose of the project launched by the high school students?| A．To create a documentary about marine life. |
| B．To study the history of mermaid civilization. |
| C．To explore and propose solutions to environmental problems. |
| D．To organize a cultural exchange program with mysterious mermaids |
| A．Through school work. | B．By conducting underwater research. |
| C．By inviting mermaids to their school. | D．By visiting the underwater city of Aquaria. |
| A．Using giant seaweed. | B．Hunting marine animals. |
| C．Giving up using plastics. | D．Burning waste for energy |
| A．It has led to a decrease in school admission. |
| B．It has caused a decline in the local economy. |
| C．It has started a talk about environmental protection. |
| D．It has increased the use of plastic products in the community. |
3 . If staying optimistic (乐观) is something you struggle with, you`re certainly not alone. Here are five ways you can frequently practice to be optimistic.
Be present every dayThe majority of negative thoughts are about the past and future, which can`t be changed. To be present, you need to exactly figure out whether they are in the past, present or future and bring them back into the moment.
The thoughts of giving thanks can help improve your body functions and overall happiness. Start by writing down at least three things you`re thankful for each day.
Laughter really is fantastic medicine. Loud laughs can calm the brain`s stress center. Watch one of your favorite TV plays or even try laughter yoga. It might be a good choice to reach out to others for help to laugh out loud.
Acts of kindness can increase your sense of well-being. Even something as simple as giving someone a smile can leave you both feeling happier. Challenge yourself to do at least one kind thing for someone else each day, such as buying a stranger a cup of coffee or donating to a cause that matters to you.
Find time to exerciseExercise produces pleasurable brain chemicals and relieves bad emotions. When you participate in physical activities that bring you joy, your thinking will clear. If it’s hard to find time to get to the gym, there are many exercise videos you can follow online.
| A．Pay it forward. |
| B．Acquire spiritual strength. |
| C．Try to focus on what’s in front of you. |
| D．The main goal is to break a sweat and do it regularly. |
| E．It’s unavoidable to feel unhappy with ups and downs all the time. |
| F．Doing that helps you recognize the little good things surrounding you. |
| G．Having a positive network of friends or family can really make a difference. |
4 . Which animal do you think is the number one pet: cats or dogs? “My cats are incredibly smart and understand things just like humans do,” said Ma Li, owner of two cats aged 13 and 16 in Beijing. “Every time I returned home after work, they would wait at the door to welcome me, easing my work pressure and making me feel wanted,” she said.
Facing heavy work pressure in an urban environment, Ma is among those who find comfort in raising pets, especially cats — a trend that has led to a surge in house cat ownership in recent years.
Liu Lang, deputy head of the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association, confirmed this trend, noting that people born in the 1980s and 1990s may prefer cats over dogs due to their lower maintenance requirements.
“The necessity of walking dogs discourages many urban citizens, especially young and middle-aged people with demanding work schedules. However, those burdened by heavy workloads often seek companionship. In this context, cats emerge as a better choice because they require less space to walk and fewer baths,” Liu explained.
In recent years, the number of pet cats has gradually surpassed that of pet dogs. According to Petdata. cn, a pet industry market observer, the number of pet cats in China reached 69. 8 million in 2023, marking a 6. 8 percent year-on-year increase and surpassing the number of pet dogs by 18. 05 million.
Zhang Haiqiang, secretary-general of the China Small Animal Protection Association, attributed this shift to the different living habits of pets, as the emotional value brought by raising cats and dogs is almost the same.
Chen Haoxing, who owns three cats and a dog, observed that potential pet owners now have more options with cats, as restrictions on raising dogs have tightened due to well-publicized biting incidents. Chen also highlighted the availability of hairless cats as an option for those allergic to animal fur.
1. Why do people need pets?| A．To meet emotional needs. | B．To avoid loneliness. |
| C．To improve work efficiency. | D．To follow the trend. |
| A．Confidence | B．Necessity | C．Increase | D．Restriction |
| A．Because of their current availability. | B．Because of their potential popularity. |
| C．Because of their same mental value. | D．Because of their distinct living habits. |
| A．Features of dogs and cats as pets. | B．Advantage of cats over dogs as pets. |
| C．Significance of dogs and cats as pets. | D．Comparison between dogs and cats as pets. |
5 . Exploring Bandelier
Bandelier National Monument is one of over 390 parks in the National Park System. It is 48 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The park is open year-round except December 25 and January 1. Late spring and summer are the busiest times, and in some days, especially at midday, there may be a 30-to-45-minute wait for parking.
Planning your visit
The park offers a variety of things to see and do. Here are some suggestions, based on the amount of time you have to spend.
| ●Continue to Alcove House. ●Go through the exhibit room. ●View “The Bandelier Story” at the visitor center. ●Walk the Main Loop Trail, with the self-guiding booklet. ●Return to the visitor center and hike the Falls Trail, with the self-guiding booklet. |
Safety Precautions: Bandelier is an archeological area preserved in as natural a condition as possible, and such condition can be hazardous. Remain alert, be cautious, and use common sense.
Stay on trails and do not climb among the dwellings（居所） or enter caves unless they are accessible by ladders. Carry drinking water, even on short trails, especially in hot weather. Do not drink water from streams unless you purify it.Regulations
| ●Picking flowers or collecting plants is prohibited. ●Climbing on walls or cliffs is prohibited. Stay on trails. ●Feeding wildlife is prohibited. Squirrels in particular can bite and may carry plague（瘟疫）. ●Collecting archeological or historic artifacts or disturbing archeological sites is prohibited These are offenses. For 24-hour general, recorded information that is updated regularly, call 505-6672-0343. |
| A．New Year's Day. | B．October. |
| C．Christmas Day. | D．Late spring. |
| A．Drinking stream water. | B．Climbing on cliffs. |
| C．Feeding wild animals. | D．Walking the Main Loop Trail. |
| A．A brochure. | B．A history book. |
| C．A science report. | D．A newspaper. |
6 . Millions of monarch butterflies (黑脉金斑蝶) once covered the trees of California’s coastal areas each winter, but now their numbers are decreasing.The recent annual Western Monarch Count found that the butterfly population was down by 99 percent from populations 40 years ago.
Monarch butterflies have two populations: eastern and western varieties separated by the Rocky Mountains. The populations are very similar in appearance, but western monarch butterflies are generally smaller and darker in color. The two also follow different migration patterns.Eastern monarch butterflies spend winter in Mexico, while western ones gather on central California coasts to wait out the cold.
In early spring, the two leave their rest places and begin to travel eastward.By the time the butterflies reach the Central Valley, they breed (繁殖). A butterfly can lay hundreds of eggs in a few weeks, and the new generation continues the migration.The cycle of generations and migration repeats every few weeks through the summer until the butterflies move as far as Idaho. And when the weather turns cold and the days get shorter, the butterflies return to California’s coasts.
The overwintering population was counted every year. The missing information is the time period when the butterflies leave their winter woods and begin to breed in February, March and April. “We just don’t know what they’re doing in that middle period and how we can better support the population,” said Washington State University biologist Cheryl Schultz. “Maybe they’re resting in the woods, or maybe they need more fuel along the way, etc. Any of those thing might help monarch butterflies get from the coastal overwintering sites to breeding sites broadly in the Central Valley,” Schultz added. To fill that gap, the researchers set up the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge.
The ten-week program asks the public to submit photographs of monarch butterflies outside of their winter range. “We couldn’t be looking for monarch butterflies right now without the involvement of the community. There just aren’t enough of us,” Schultz said. “Reaching out to the community means we might be able to learn something where there is virtually no other way to learn it.”
1. From Paragraph 1, we know monarch butterflies _______.| A．are counted by researchers every decade |
| B．are in a very difficult situation now |
| C．have lost their home in California |
| D．have moved to new places |
| A．Their breeding places. |
| B．Their appearance and size. |
| C．Their way of fighting against cold. |
| D．Their migration destination in winter. |
| A．To know the exact number of monarch butterflies. |
| B．To help monarch butterflies get through tough winters. |
| C．To know better about monarch butterflies to help them. |
| D．To find out the influence of human activities on monarch butterflies. |
| A．It’s challenging to make the community get involved. |
| B．It’s important to get help from the public. |
| C．It’s difficult to study monarch butterflies. |
| D．It’s rewarding to learn from the public. |
7 . Registration for Summer Camp 2024
Summer Day Camps offer an experience that is sure to keep your child aged 5—12 having fun all summer long. Each week of camp is uniquely themed to add some fun and excitement to the mix. Every week will contain additional activities that correspond to the theme.
Prehistoric Times
June 19—June 23
Spend a week exploring the time of dinosaurs. Be ready to share your favorite dinosaurs and learn more about what the world was like when these giant reptiles (爬行动物) walked the Earth.
Mad Science
June 26—June 30
Put on your lab coat and get ready for a week of science! There are so many experiments to do, new things to learn and other scientist campers to meet!
The Wonderful World of Disney
July 3—July 7
Once upon a time, there lived a group of campers who experienced “A Whole NewWorld”. Because “When You Wish Upon a Star”, you’ll be back at camp “For the First Time in Forever”! “Be Our Guest” as we celebrate your favorite fairy tale characters.
Splash TACULAR
July 10—July 14
Campers will experience a week of pirates, mermaids and other sea creatures. We will explore all things under the sea and create an ocean of memories.
TO REGISTER
*Children must have completed kindergarten to register.
*Registration ends ten days prior to the start of each camp week.
*Summer Day Camps’ weekly charges will be drafted in full ten days prior to the start of each camp week.
1. Who is the advertisement intended for?| A．Parents of pupils. | B．Preschool children. |
| C．Teachers in primary schools. | D．Senior high school students. |
| A．Mad Science. | B．Prehistoric Times. |
| C．Splash TACULAR. | D．The Wonderful World of Disney. |
| A．On June 16. | B．On June 18. | C．On June 20. | D．On June 26. |
8 . There may come a time when someone requires your help for a mental health issue.
Listen
If someone approaches when they need help, it’s not always easy to know what you should do, and it may be more beneficial for you to just listen.
Even if you have undergone (经历) some related training, that doesn’t mean you are in the best position to offer the mental health support someone needs. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is encourage them to seek professional help. You may be able to provide phone numbers and even attend appointments with them if it makes them more comfortable.
Check in with them
While being a listening ear is sometimes all someone needs to feel better, you can also become an ongoing source of support. Check in with the person experiencing a mental health problem so that they know you are always there for them. Make contact with them regularly to see how they are feeling.
Call emergency (紧急情况) services
| A．Suggest support services |
| B．Provide effective support |
| C．You may be more than happy to help |
| D．Express your concern for them as fast as possible |
| E．Just knowing someone cares can bring them comfort |
| F．They may not need you to offer solutions or even give them a hug |
| G．Your support can be of great value to anyone going through a tough time |
9 . Recently Chinese scientists have solved a food challenge of the ages! They cultivated (培育) the world’s first crucian carp (鲫鱼) without intermuscular (肌间的) fish bones.
The new fish ends a world-wide debate which has lasted for more than 50 years on whether intermuscular fish bones can be reproduced.
Crucian carp is a popular freshwater fish with tender meat and a fresh flavor, but its many tiny bones can easily get stuck in people’s throats when the fish is eaten. A research team from Heilongjiang Province started a project to solve the problem in 2009 and chose the key gene from about 1,600 fishes, in order to control the growth of the fish’s intermuscular bones. Researchers knocked out the bmp6 gene without influencing the fish’s growth.
“In 2020, we successfully cultivated the first generation of crucian carp without intermuscular fish bones with a success rate of 12.96 percent and the second generation at the rate of 19 percent in 2021,” said a researcher from the team. “At the beginning of 2022, we set free around 20,000 fish of the third generation at the test base in Harbin. The fish grew well and is quite different from normal crucian carp. The results of an examination in August showed that we succeeded completely.”
Experts said, “People will no longer have to pick out tiny fish bones. It could greatly change the fish diet of the world in the future.” In addition, the research can help promote industrial processing of the fish, marking a great breakthrough in the field of aquaculture (水产养殖) breeding in China.
1. What challenge have Chinese scientists solved?| A．They’ve found a wild fish. |
| B．They’ve created a fish with a fresh flavor. |
| C．They’ve cultivated a fish with tender meat. |
| D．They’ve produced a fish with no small bones. |
| A．The fish can’t live in the sea. |
| B．The fish grow very slowly in freshwater. |
| C．The fish’s intermuscular bones are long and thin. |
| D．The fish’s tiny bones are stuck in people’s throats easily. |
| A．100% | B．50% | C．19% | D．12.96% |
| A．The fish diet in the future. |
| B．The problem of tiny fish bones. |
| C．The importance of the research. |
| D．The aquaculture breeding in China. |
10 . Set 40 kilometers northeast of the city of Ambatondrazaka, Madagascar, the Zahamena National Park has overall land coverage of 643 square kilometers, but only about 420 square kilometers is open to the public. It receives an average rainfall level of around 6 feet every year and experiences frequent rain showers even during the dry season between April and October. And elevations (海拔) inside the park range from 250 to 1,560 meters, which has resulted in a diversity (多样性) of climates.
One really interesting thing about the Zahamena National Park is its unique highland landform (高地地貌). The development of several ecosystems that all together exist within its area greatly depends on it. And this is also the reason why the types of wildlife living in one area of its wide range are different in another, which makes it quite exciting to explore.
This protected region’s main area is divided into two parts: the eastern and western areas, with a separate piece of ground in the middle where many small villages are located. Zahamena means “red trees”, which suggests a tree species scientifically called Diatum unifoliatum. It lives only in Zahamena and is characterized by its typically deep reddish-orange color.
Established as a strict natural highland habitat for nature conservation (保护) in 1927, the Zahamena National Park was officially awarded the honorary title of national park in 1997 and was finally opened to the public. Due to its amazing landform and unique local biodiversity, this national park was later listed as a key part of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana in 2007.
Unluckily, there are no hotels or restaurants around the national park. So Zahamena is not an easy rainforest—this national park needs people with a high level of fitness and people with low requirements concerning accommodations. Everyone who is not discouraged by this will be able to expect an amazing rainforest experience in a location which has a small number of tourists.
1. What do we know about the Zahamena National Park?| A．It is hard to reach due to conservation rules. |
| B．It has changeable weather all year round. |
| C．It has a great difference in elevations. |
| D．It is famous for its traditional villages. |
| A．The complete food chain of wildlife there. |
| B．The wet weather condition there. |
| C．The conservation efforts there. |
| D．The special landform there. |
| A．A cultural belief. | B．A local tree species. |
| C．The unique geography. | D．The local village group. |
| A．The tough condition of Zahamena. | B．People’s high level of fitness. |
| C．Its geographical location. | D．The diversity of climates. |
